Who is David Blaine?

David Blaine is one of the most captivating artists of our time. He has entertained and astounded millions of people worldwide with his stunts of magic, illusions, and endurance feats. He was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 4, 1973 to his mother Patrice Maureen White whose ethnicity was Russian Jewish. She made a living as a school teacher, and to his father William Perez, who was Italian/Puerto Rican veteran of Vietnam war. His mother raised him by herself by herself for several years until she married a John Bukalo and moved to New Jersey.

David saw one of his first magic shows at age four with at street performer displaying his skill at subway station as people passing by. He was amazed with their talents and abilities of the artist even with just cards or shell tricks. He knew right that this would be his lifetime pursuit. He crafted his ability and in 1997 did his television special NBC called Street Magic and later in Magic Man in which he traveled to throughout the U.S. revealing his talent, some of the places he performed were in Atlantic City, Compton, Dallas and San Francisco. He has entertained celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence, John Travolta, Harrison Ford and Johnny Depp as well as former presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. His fascinating techniques left have people spellbound with usual twists on convention, such as his card tricks , fire breathing, bullet catching, and sword swallowing shenanigans.

However, it is the endurance events are what has made David Blaine into the legend we know today. In 1999 David did the “Buried Alive Stunt” He was submerged in 3 tons of water across from from Trump Place on 68th street and Riverside in New York City for 7 days. He didn’t eat any food and only drank few tablespoons of water daily. Over 75,000 people came to view him at the site of the event. Harry Houdini had always wanted to perform this event but didn’t get to before his death. He later followed up this event in November of 2000 with the stunt of “Frozen in Ice” at Time Square New York City. He was encased in huge block of ice for over 63 hours with only a feeding tube for air and water and one for his urine. In 2002 he was back at it again a with a “Vertigo”. A crane lifted him onto a 22-inch pillar who was 100 feet in the air at Bryant Park in New York City. And he remained standing behind the pillar for over 35 hours without falling. He finished the event by leaping into a stack of cardboard boxes. More recently, in 2012 he did event called “Electrified” at Pier 54 in New York City for over 72 hours a million volts of electric from Huge Tesla Coils passed through a suit he as wearing. Music by Pharrell Williams and Andrew W.K. was played in the background. David explained why he did these outrageous acts his desire to push the envelope, ”In truth, the only restrictions on our capacity to astonish ourselves and each other are imposed by our own minds.” “We are all capable of infinitely more than we believe.”

David is truly remarkable man. David has been involved in various charitable causes over the years such as earthquake relief for Haiti and entertaining children with serious illnesses. Howard Stern said he is “the greatest magician that ever lived” and in many ways he may be right.

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James PartinI am freelance writer, I have published works in Examiner.com, The Helium Network, Hubpages, The Cincinnati Gazette, and Yahoo Contributor Network. Arts, Entertainment, Health, Techology, and Politics